Canberra Group
Meets third Saturday of each month from 2 to 4pm
Coordinator: Gordon Herbert
Mobile: 0466 464 064
Postal Address: 9 Backhouse Street, Latham, ACT 2615
Email: tscanberra2600@gmail.com
Bulletins: Current and previous Bulletins from the Canberra Group can be viewed at: Canberra Group Bulletins
Meeting place: Friends' Meeting House, 17 Bent Steet, Turner (on the corner of Bent and Condamine Streets)
Meet: 2 - 4 pm 3rd Saturday each month.
2026 Programme
2.00pm Saturday 19 September
Topic: The Magi
Presenter: Elayne Strahan
About the Presentation
Experts believe that the Magi are from the Medes tribe of ancient Iran and are synonymous with the epoch of Zarathustra of 1000 BCE or earlier. A magi priest himself, Zarathustra’s sacred writings or Avesta are in two parts, the oldest being songs or Gathas and a later part called the Yashts or liturgy, a book of hymns, including the law against evil spirits and texts on what happens to the soul after death. Zoroastrianism became widespread when in 547BCE one third of the Greek world became Persian. Most of this Persian rule was lost when Alexander the Great destroyed the palace at Persepolis where a lot of Persian historical records were kept.
The Persian Rulers though, beginning with the Achaemenid dynasty of Cyrus the Great (600-530BCE), were Zoroastrian and made this the one religion throughout their massive empire. The name Zarathustra was known to the Greek philosophers, Plato and Aristotle who cited his works. The Persians respected the divine, including the Greek gods. After their Greek conquests they cared for their sanctuaries as demonstrated by their decision, to complete with reverence, the Greek temple of Artemis at Ephesus in Lydia. Cyrus the Great also released the Jewish people from their Babylonian captivity under his ‘Edict of Restoration’, which paved the way for the second temple period of Jewish history. Cyrus the Great appears to be enacting his kingship under wise guidance.
The authentic magi, we are told are priests with a special theology and ritual to be distinguished from the wizard’s magic. They feature in Aristotle and Herodotus who say they are a class of Median priests, spokesmen for Persian religion in contact with the King. At the same time there is mention of others, of magoi or itinerant magicians or sorcerers. The word magus first appears, preserved in old Persian around 520BCE and thereafter the terminology begins to appear in writings and inscriptions, including the story of Jesus. Historians posit; the ancient Greeks appear to have taken critical insights gained from the teachings of the magi and remodelled these teachings with their own understandings and categories.
What did Zarathustra teach? How did the Magi survive after the destruction and devastation of Alexander the Great? Why do they feature so heavily in the Christianisation of late antiquity and the middle ages? What do they have to do with the glory of Kingship?
These questions can be discussed and explored by Elayne’s presentation.
About the Presenter
Elayne Strahan is a retired commonwealth public servant with twenty-five years’ experience in social work practice, commonwealth social research, policy development and programme implementation for the Australian government. She has a social policy research masters from the Australian Demographic Social Research Institute (ADSRI) at the Australian National University (ANU).
Elayne has always had an interest in esoteric matters and has been involved in the spiritualist movement for forty years in Canberra and elsewhere. She has done a number of presentations to the TS on research on the Cathar Wars or the Albigensian Crusade of 1209-1229. Her research however, has gone beyond this traditional framework and reached further into antiquity as far back as the ancient Persian and Greek empires. Here, the Magi have become important to understanding the philosophical underpinnings of modern religions and the religious imperatives of great historical figures. She is currently writing up her research into a book and the Magi are important to her story.
2.00pm Saturday 17 October
Topic: How Our Universe Works – and How We Can Help
Presenter: Gordon Herbert
About the Presentation
The universe is alive, awake, and manifesting the heart and soul of the Creator in all – including us. Theosophical understanding of Creation and Law shows us how the universe evolves, and even its reason for incarnation. The interaction of universal Spirit and Matter creates individual conscious I AM I, souls of many kinds. The purpose of evolution of the universe seems to be the expansion of radiant intelligence and love through the agency of infinite mind. Spirit absorbs these evolved qualities for further upliftment of the Whole. We all, as spirit, soul and personality, develop together in a mechanism common to all levels of the universe. We humanity have a specific role and influence to play in the energy network and purpose of our universe.
The cycles of universal reincarnation open us to ideas of Universal Logoic ascension, multiple universes, and scientific speculation about bouncing universes. An understanding of the relevance of it all helps us to better manage our lives, with a sense of proportion, certainty about our role and purpose, our expanding awareness, and our interrelated cosmic Life. We now know that inherently we all have the wisdom and creativity of our Creator at hand.
This “big picture” talk will be followed by a more human-focused talk about our next era revelation later in the year.
About the Presenter: Gordon began his spiritual search while research and teaching at the ANU and Macquarie Universities. His academic training is in psychology and the geography of social and economic development. He was offered tenure and a PhD at Macquarie University but decided instead to study the ancient and modern wisdoms. He has been practicing these wisdoms for over 50 years. His research includes evolution and development, symbols and myths, religions, astrology, modern revelations, universal theosophy and the works of Djwhal Khul. After his academic profession Gordon for 27 years managed foreign aid in the Australian Government’s Development Assistance Agency (AusAID), including posting as Head of Aid at the Australian High Commission in Sri Lanka. His book on stages of spiritual and social development is free on line at http://www.progressions.info and is also held in the Theosophical Society library in Sydney. Gordon has made many presentations to the Canberra TS Group.
